IBD barriers across the continents: a continent-specific analysis - Australasia

Alexander T Elford; Rupert W Leong; Emma P Halmos; Manal Morgan; Kate Kilpatrick; Peter J Lewindon; Richard B Gearry; Britt Christensen

doi:10.1177/17562848231197509

IBD barriers across the continents: a continent-specific analysis - Australasia

Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2023 Sep 8:16:17562848231197509. doi: 10.1177/17562848231197509. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Alexander T Elford¹, Rupert W Leong², Emma P Halmos³, Manal Morgan⁴, Kate Kilpatrick⁵, Peter J Lewindon⁶, Richard B Gearry⁷, Britt Christensen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne University, 300 Grattan Street, Melbourne, VIC 3050, Australia.
² Concord Repatriation Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Queensland Children's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁵ Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
⁶ Queensland Children's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁷ Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand University of Otago, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
⁸ Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Melbourne University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Australasia, encompassing Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, has some of the highest prevalence's of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the world. The way IBD medicine is practiced varies between and within these countries. There are numerous shared issues of IBD care between Australia and New Zealand, whereas Papua New Guinea has its' own unique set of circumstances. This review looks to explore some of the barriers to IBD care across the continent from the perspective of local IBD healthcare professionals. Barriers to IBD care that are explored include access to IBD multidisciplinary teams, provision of nutritional-based therapies, the prevalence and engagement of IBD-associated mental health disorders, access to medicine, access to endoscopy, rural barriers to care, Indigenous IBD care and paediatric issues. We look to highlight areas where improvements to IBD care across Australasia could be made as well as address research needs.

Keywords: Australasia; inflammatory bowel disease; multidisciplinary care.

Publication types

Review